Kicking on

He finished last season as Munster’s Heineken Cup final full-back, but this term Denis Hurley is sampling some of the flip-sides of professional sport — including the injury which looks set to keep him out of tonight’s clash. EDWARD NEWMAN reports.

WHEN HE burst onto the Munster scene in last April’s Heineken Cup quarter-final against Gloucester at Kingsholm, his arrival was like a whirlwind, a breath of fresh air.

Pencilled in as the possible heir apparent to Shaun Payne for some months, he didn’t let himself down when thrust into the fire. Few if any had expected Declan Kidney to pick him for such a pivotal game. Wasn’t he was always one for easing players into top-flight rugby? In the end, the glare of the European spotlight didn’t blind Hurley. Instead he shone.